The Prince Albert Grand Council is rolling out a new training program that will teach youth the skills needed to pursue a career in fire management and resource management.
The Fire Guardian Pilot Project will train 25 youth ages 18-30 over an 18-month period. An exact start date for the program hasn’t been set yet, but right now PAGC is hoping to get the youth certified by mid-March so they can do field training in the summer.
“This new initiative that we’re starting here is really geared towards focusing on the next generation of fire managers, really getting youth equipped with the tools and training that they need to advance their careers in fire management and potentially resource management more broadly,” explained wildfire consultant for PAGC, Brady Highway.
Fire Guardian programs have been implemented in Canada for a number of years in several provinces, but Saskatchewan has never had a program like this before.
Brady Highway worked on a national study around three years ago with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative on how Indigenous communities can become more actively involved in fire management, planning, and response through training programs.
“What I did was after coming to the Prince Albert Grand Council, knowing there’s this opportunity for guardians in fire management, I just really wanted to see if we could develop something here and test some of these theories that we came up with in that national study,” said Highway.
This summer was a bad wildfire season in the province, especially in northern and Indigenous communities. The Flanagan fire forced roughly 1,800 residents of Sandy Bay to evacuate. PAGC Chief Brian Hardlotte and Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation Chief Peter A. Beatty spoke to the media this summer, saying they wanted to see more Indigenous firefighters on the front line.
“Chief Brian Hardlotte and Chief Peter A. Beatty were absolutely correct that we can do more to prepare our communities and utilize some of that local labour force for response,” Highway said.
Youth looking to apply to the program don’t need any prior training or certifications to be considered.
“What this program does is provide all of those prerequisites for them to launch into a career, whether that be for Parks Canada, Sask Environmental, or BC Forestrys; some of the training that we’re doing around small vessels, some of these folks could go be a boat operator on the west coast if they so desire,” stated Highway.
Youth looking to learn more about the Fire Guardian Program or to apply for the program can email Brady.Highway@PAGC.net. The deadline to apply is set for December 19.